CLEMSON – Garry Peters had a childhood dream of playing Between the Hedges, but after an offseason incident that dream will never become a reality.

The Conyers (GA) native was suspended along with three others for Clemson’s opener against Georgia, but despite not being able to live out a longtime dream, Peters said that he will emerge a better player and person when the Tigers take the field on September 7th against South Carolina State.

“I was hurting. I feel that has made me better as a man because I feel like I’ve been waiting all of my life to play at Georgia and against the Georgia Bulldogs and then for this to happen, it was a blow to me,” Peters told TigerNet during spring practice. “My family was disappointed. I feel like this made me better as a man and it will show when I get back out there on the field.”

Even though he will have to sit on the sidelines on August 30th, Peters said that the suspension hasn’t affected his work ethic during the spring and offseason.

“It hasn’t really affected my work,” Peters said. “In the spring, I’ve just been taking it one day at a time. I know what a long process that it is, as a senior, so I’m just trying to take it one day at a time and perfect my craft and get better as the time goes on. Some days it goes up and some days I’m down. I’m working on perfecting my craft so I can be the best this year.”

In fact, he is more focused than ever.

“I couldn’t be more focused. I’m taking the game more seriously,” Peters said. “I spend a lot of time in the film room. Usually I would go home after class and just take a nap, but instead I’m in the film room. I watch all of the third downs. Even Florida State, I watched all of their third down plays. I want to be more of a student of the game. Being more of a student of the game, my athletic ability will take care of the rest.”

With spring practice now over, Peters main focus is to get and stay healthy.

“I plan on working with my trainer that I have while I’m home to get better,” Peters said. “I’m not taking any days off this year. Most people take the summer off – the couple of weeks that we have off. I don’t plan on taking any days off. I’m going 365. And, keep staying healthy. I’ve been dealing with this hamstring, so the big thing going forward is that I keep staying healthy. I’ve got a calcium deposit on my muscle so it’s been hampering me for the past couple of days. I haven’t been practicing. I’ll be fine though.”

And, trying to help his younger teammates along the way.

“I’ve been helping them,” he said. “Sometimes we will watch film after practice and sometimes we will come down here on the weekends and do some stuff. The young guys are going to be ready. They don’t fully understand what it takes yet and the process, but we will get it down.”

With only 11 games left in his career, Peters has already set lofty goals for himself and his teammates.

“I want to win every game we play, that’s my team goal,” he said. “For myself, I haven’t really set any personal goals as far as how many interceptions or how many tackles I want. I know I don’t want to give up a catch, though. I know it’s going to happen, but it’s my goal.”